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Cafés in a cashless society with Peter Dore-Smith

category:
Trends

sectors:
Technology

The Cashless Experience is our podcast special. We chatted to industry experts to define when and why we might be on the way to a cashless world.

Retail expert Jemima Bird was in our previous mini-episode sharing her opinion of the evolving consumer journey. Next up is Peter Dore-Smith, founder of London’s award-winning Aussie coffee chain Kaffeine. Kaffeine has been around since 2005 and consists of two locations within walking distance from Oxford Street.

Peter explains that payment has come leaps and bounds since first opening. “It’s all contactless now, I’m really seeing a change in how people pay and transact with you in the shop.”

Noting that there is a difference in payment across the two stores, Peter estimates 70-80% of his customers now pay digitally. Saving time and overhead costs, Peter has managed to cut his daily visit to the bank, to just once a week, thanks to the rise in contactless.

Quicker, easier, less chance for mistake and less chance of theft are just a few perks from Peters list of the benefits of cashless.

Cashless can be effective in the fight against fraud. Counterfeit notes are still very much alive and with fake £50’s on the rise, Kaffeine has stopped accepting this currency all together. Despite this, Peter is quick to point out that he won’t be scrapping cash completely in the foreseeable future.

“Runners always pay in cash,” he explains. With eight to ten runners visiting the cafe a day, Peter isn’t prepared to lose that business. From his experience on the ground, Peter thinks there will be a lot of push back if we go completely cashless. There are still lots of people who want to pay with cash he explains, and for this reason, thinks a cashless society isn’t taking over just yet.